220 BOAED OF AGEICULTUKE. 



took up a length of the fence, and took the heifers along 

 with him into the cornfield. I put up the fence and shut 

 up the bull, but the heifers had learned how to do it, and I 

 had to build a new fence. So I got some barbed wire, and 

 put a single strand along that fence between the upper rail 

 and the next one. The heifers walked the whole length of 

 the fence ; they didn't like the looks of it, and went and 

 jumped over into the road, supposing that that would bring 

 them into the cornfield. I put them back again, and put in 

 a few stakes where there was a low place where the bull 

 went over, along by the wall, and put a string of wire there ; 

 and I had no more trouble with that field. In other in- 

 stances, where I had a worn-out rail fence that ought to 

 have been removed, and a new fence put in the place of it, 

 I have found that, by stringing a single wire, I could make 

 the fence perfectly safe. I say this because, as far as my 

 experience goes, which extends now over three years, this 

 barbed fence wire has proved perfectly safe, and more eco- 

 nomical than any other kind of fence that I can conceive of. 



Mr. Ware. It seems to me that where horses are never 

 to be turned out, nor cattle, this wire fence may be very suit- 

 able. I have related my experience where horses were 

 turned out, but where horses and cattle are not turned out 

 it is an excellent fence. 



Mr. Stoddard of East Brookfield. I have had experience 

 during the last four years in the use of wire fence. I have 

 used it under a great many different conditions, and I have 

 never had any trouble or damage caused to any of my cattle 

 or horses by it. When I first let a horse into a field fenced 

 with a wire fence, if he is not used to that kind of fence I 

 lead him up and touch his nose to ifc, and he finds there 

 is something there that is not intended for him to run against. 

 If you try to run a horse up there, you cannot get him with- 

 in a rod or two after he has had a little experience with it. 

 The same thing will apply to cattle. I have found that, by 

 building a fence with perhaps three wires, I could keep bulls 

 in a field that no other fence would keep within bounds. In 

 one instance I put up two rails and one wire, and that would 

 keep my bull, or any other bull that I ever saw, in that pas- 

 ture. Any other fence, unless it was an extra good one, he 



